Speaker on energy, sustainability, climate change, and conservation

Environment, sustainability, and nature conservation talks

Through my travels, research trips, and my university teaching, I can illuminate and
clarify important environmental issues. The talks are academically rigourous, illustrated with high
quality slides, and delivered with enthusiasm. I aim to entertain,
surprise and inform, whether a specialist audience or a general
audience keen to have their horizons expanded. My environmental talks are booked by conferences, schools and lecture societies.

Where our energy comes from is a topic of vital importance for
security, cost and environmental reasons. this entertaining and
visually appealing talk looks at our energy options and evaluates
their feasibility. It also looks at the political issues, and what are
the devastating consequences when societies have their energy
curtailed. Finally, it explores the human rights and foreign policy
considerations that devolve from how we choose to source our energy.
The talk
ethically examine the choices ahead of us and the impacts
on societies around the world.

Our lifestyles are having profound impacts on the Earth's ecosystems.
How much of nature are we prepared to sacrifice to sustain our
lifestyles, and does it matter? Are we living sustainably? Is it
possible for everyone in the world to enjoy a decent material quality of
life without losing the simple pleasure and wellbeing that having nature
in our lives brings? What are the conservation challenges? I explore how 'progress' is measured and what environmental costs we are prepared
to pay to maintain current living standards. This is a thought provoking and
enlightening talk for a general audience.

Climate is changing, but then it's always changed. Why is climate change such a hot topic now? Is it important?
What is global warming? Should we take it seriously? How can we understand it when the science seems so impenetrable?
This talk aims to clarify the issues and techniques used in this fascinating detective story as science tries to tackle perhaps its biggest
challenge: understanding the planet and the consequences of anthropogenic
climate change.

In this talk I examine the impossibility of finding anywhere on Earth
that has not been affected by mankind's activity, how we reconcile that with notions
of wilderness, how we value nature, and the necessary redefining of what is now 'natural'.

Geology is not just about rocks, it's about stories, and geology has some
fantastic ones to tell. This talk is aimed at an audience with no geological background. At
the end of it you will have a new appreciation of how important geology is, how it helps us
see our place in the world, and will also get you looking at rocks with renewed interest.

Antarctic environmental science has loomed large in my professional
life. Ozone depletion, climate change and plate tectonics have all given up
secrets to scientists studying in one of the harshest environments in the
world. Here I explore Antarctica with world class environmental scientists and
look at why it is so important to our understanding of the
planet and what the future might hold.

I have been an expedition participant on the marine research ship JOIDES Resolution in the Pacific.
This is part
of an amazing international research program that has helped uncover the
secrets of tsunamis, plate tectonics, earthquakes and climate change by drilling through
a hole in the bottom of the ship and into the seafloor.
Come on board and learn what it's like to conduct scientific research,
and support a self-contained floating community for months at a time, in one of the most difficult environments in the world.

"Many thanks for a very thought provoking talk, well constructed and brilliantly delivered.
It was most refreshing to hear a talk on ‘Our Energy Future’ covering all aspects of the energy debate
presented in a completely unbiased way and leaving the audience to decide on the way forward.
I thoroughly recommend this talk to other societies – it is a talk that everyone should hear!
I hope you will be able to come back soon and give us another of your talks."

"...it was excellent. Clearly and interestingly presented, well researched
and coherently put together. I doubt if anybody left the Council Chamber regretting
their choice of what they had done with their evening."